Is there some dead simple way to record all audio (input+output) on Windows 7?

Question

I need a very simple app that my non-technical colleagues can use for recording calls made via a VOIP program on their PC.

There are many programs that allow recording audio input and/or output - but after a significant time of digging, I couldn't find one which with little or no configuration "just works" to record all audio input+output of the system (or at least all audio going in or out of a specific program).

On OS X there's a program called Audio Hijack Pro which is works perfectly for such needs and is a breeze to configure - is there anything similar for Win7?

Answer 1

There is nothing in Windows 7 that will allow you to do this natively, unless the hardware manufacturer created the driver with some sort of virtual "mix" interface. Occasionally, you'll get lucky and have a sound-card that provides a "Stereo Mix" virtual interface that will allow you to loop your output back in the system as an input source... but most sound-chip manufacturers don't bother implementing that in Windows 7. There are 3rd party tools like VAC that can do this... but they sacrifice a bit of CPU to make it happen... and they're not free. They don't always work as nicely as you would hope either. Give it a shot... and see what happens.